Unexpected
by CallMeStranger
Summary: No one knew about Tony 's apprentice. When they find Tony dead, he just appears. Can he live up to Iron Man's name or go down in flames?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: ok, ok, no one freak out, this was a requested story by RollingUpHigh and I swear I have no intention of sending anyone on an emotional roller coaster... Although that may happen. This will not be the same as the movie or anything, it's just my version of Iron man's heir so... please Don't kill me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't deserve to own the avengers, I just don't.**

Harley Keener lived an ordinary life, in an ordinary city, filled with ordinary people. Everyday he went to work, came home, ate dinner, and went to bed. Except for Saturdays. Saturdays, he did something different. Yes, this average, dull, twenty two year old man was slightly different. No, no powers, no mutations, but he knew someone like that. Tony stark. In fact, he was his follower, his own little apprentice. No one could know this. If they did, well, who knows who would go after him? SHEILD was always waiting for the day they could take over stark tower, and Harley had to be there to stop them. If anything ever happened to Tony... Harley didn't want to think about it. How could he replace such a man? Such a- Such a genius! He'd asked himself this everyday since he was chosen to be his heir.

He was good at engineering, but it had taken him a LONG LONG time to even work up to the equivalent of his superior, let alone the time it took him to make his own suit. He was obviously considered because of his fathers friendship with Tony, but why of all people would he choose him? Harley didn't know, and perhaps he never would. He sighed and entered the Stark tower. At least his life didn't have to be so dull all the time.

_**Meanwhile**_

**"Sir, Harley is here for his regular training session." **JARVIS announced, showing Tony the man standing outside his building. Sure enough the pale, brown haired man was waiting right outside.

"Ah, let him in then." Tony said, looking up from the holograms in his workshop. Honestly, where else would he be? With a few taps, the holograms vanished, and new ones instantly replaced them. The ones he and Harley were working on last week. They were actually making great progress. Seconds later Harley's grinning face appeared in the doorway.

"Well Harvey, you gonna stand there and smile or are you going to finish your homework?" Tony asked pulling up a few more holograms.

Harley's smile faded slightly. "Yeah, I'm on it. My names Harley by the way." He noted, making his way over to the table.

"No matter how many times you tell me that, I'm still calling you Harvey." Tony replied stepping aside.

Harley rolled his eyes and started working on his suit. Fingers flying, switching codes here and there, adding things, changing things. Not looking up from his work, Harley asked, "So where's everyone today hmm?" Referring to the avengers.

Tony shrugged. "Off saving the world somewhere." He watched Harley's progress in front of him. "No, no the boosters shouldn't center in the base of the foot, they have to be built around the frame, directing it farther away from you and raising the power levels up by 25%. It's a common miscalculation, but it makes all the difference.

Harley fixed it within a minute and continued. "Then how come your not, oh you know, helping them?" He asked.

"I have better things to do. What is this an interview?" Tony retaliated.

"No, I can't be curious? You choose me above any other mutant in the world that could do what I'm doing without even a blink of an eye, yet you choose me to take over for you. Why?" Harley blurted, he needed to know this so bad.

Tony sighed. "Its complicated. I didn't get where I am today with mutations or powers, I got it from here." He pointed to his head. " I just want someone who has the potential to become something good on their own terms like me." He explained.

"Wow, this is Tony stark being modest huh? Shocking." Harley said without even thinking. Now that, was a stupid move.

Tony grabbed his shoulders and spun him around. "This is important whether you think it is or not. To tell you the truth, I don't trust mutants because you never know what they've done or what they will do and I can't have someone like that acting as me. No one knows about you because you're literally all I have and I can't risk that because I already risk my life on a daily basis. It's what I do best. Unfortunately, you never know when I may not be saved my dumb luck and die like I deserve to. I need someone who can be something great by trying, not something that came out of a bottle." You never know when something might happen and then..." He trailed off.

Harley stepped back. "I'm sorry." he whispered. "I wasn't thinking, it's just-"

" Forget it. As long as you know how important you are, then my job here is done."

With that, Harley turned and started finishing up his suit. "One day this will all be yours." Tony muttered. "Will you take care of it?"

"Of course." Harley said, nodding in his direction. "It's all I have that makes me different, I need it." Harley admitted.

Tony nodded and shut down the monitors. "We'll start making your suit next week, I have something I need to do." Tony replied.

"But I-"

"Just go already." Tony muttered closing his eyes. Harley hesitated, but left. Then Tony was alone again. Just like he always had been and that scared the shit out of him. He knew what had to be done, and started working.

"Is it read yet JARVIS?"

**"Yes sir." **the AI responded. **"All we need is your final scan."**

"Perfect. I never thought I'd ever come up with anything like this before JARVIS. It's always been a little dream of mine. Too bad I won't be around to see it." He sighed.

If JARVIS physically could, he'd be crying.

Tony 's POV-

I woke up the next morning with a horrible headache. "JARVIS, dim the lights." I ordered and rubbed my eyes. "Don't let anyone in today, I feel like staying in for a while."

JARVIS didn't respond. "JARVIS?" I asked hesitantly. I made my way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. It always helped in the morning. But someone was already there. "Morning Captain."

Steve smiled. "Its Steve, and you aren't surprised to see me?"

"Ah, no. You guys do this all the time. So where's everyone else? Still asleep I bet." I answered sitting down at the counter.

"Um, most of them." Steve coughed and sipped his own mug of... milk?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Well Tony, Clint is in the infirmary due to a few broken bones and bad burns, but everyone else is fine, mostly." He replied.

"Figures. I thought you guys had it under control." I shrugged, making myself some coffee.

Steve beamed. "We did. Their whole base is destroyed, HYDRA won't be bothering anyone for while."

"Yeah, don't bet on that. Those bastards don't know when to quit." I grumbled bitterly.

Steve rolled his eyes. "We took care of them ok?" Then someone spoke out from just beyond the doorway.

"No, he's right." Director Fury strolled in, slapping a file onto the table in front of Tony. "And they're on the move."

**So how you do you like the story so far huh? It's not the longest but there's more to it then this, I promise. What is Fury talking about? What is HYDRA up to? And why does Steve refuse to drink coffee? Stay tuned and find out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Sorry, I would have published this sooner but I had to go to church. Ugg. :P**

**Disclaimer: Someone like me is just to awesome to own the avengers. *Sigh* What a shame.**

Tony's POV-

"Security breach." I muttered, but looked through the file anyway. "So HYDRA is trying to take over people's minds. That's new." Steve cringed at this.

"Sounds dangerous." He thought out loud.

"Oh, it is." Fury responded. "And we have to destroy it."

" By we, you mean the avengers? Seriously? Half of them are part dead from what I hear." I gestured to Steve and sipped my coffee. "By the way captain, I think coffee is a better drink than milk in the morning."

Steve rolled his eyes. "This is more important than coffee. Besides, you drink it all anyway."

I shrugged. "More for me."

Fury's eye twitched. "It'll just be you two on this one. We have a jet ready to go as soon as possible. When can you get going?"

"What, no debrief? No instructions? Hell, I'll go right now, but we need a little more info on this one eyepatch." I exclaimed in mock interest. Fury scowled.

" I think I agree with Tony on this one Director." Steve nodded.

"All I can say is get the device they're using, and destroy it. It's going to be risky, and you can't get caught. If you do..." He trailed off. "We'll be fighting you along with them." The room went silent. Not for long, I mean, I was in there.

"Well Captain," I sighed and shook his shoulder. "Looks like we're going on an adventure." Then I left to pack a few things.

On my way out, I heard Steve call, "I swear to god Tony, if you turn this into The Lord of the rings I will push you off that jet!"

"Hey, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even know about that movie!" I called back as I made my way to my lab. I could here Steve get up and follow me.

When we finally made it back to the lab, I walked over to my hologram table. "I made something pretty neat for you to try out, and I figure now would be the best time to take it for a test run." I explained, turning on the monitor. BIG mistake. Harley's prototypes flashed around us in mid air,right where they were... When I turned them off. I silently cursed myself and closed them up in a file.

"You built me...a suit?" Steve asked curiously.

"Uh, no. That was just an experiment. THIS, is yours." I corrected, pulling up an image of a hover board. "Its brand new, ridiculously easy to control, and comes in red white and blue." I chimed in while Steve gawked at it.

"Uh, thanks. Why did you make it for me exactly?" He said, messing with the hologram.

"Oh, a number of reasons. You almost got killed on our last mission when that guy pushed you off the plane, you never use anything electronic unless you really need to, and-" I shrugged-"I was bored.

"I thought you only made stupid things when you were tired." He muttered. "No offense."

"Offense taken actually. Maybe I shouldn't give it to you." I debated, fingering the power button on the desk for emphasis.

"I take it back. You make slightly useful things when your half asleep." He surrendered, taking a step back.

"That'll do for now, I guess." I smiled and pulled out the currently dead hover board. "just push this button to turn it on, and control it with your feet." I pointed to different parts of the hover board.

"Right." He breathed and took it into his own hands, admiring the smooth surface.(mainly the colors) "I love how the buttons a star. Very creative." Steve noted sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't even remember building it ok? When I found it, I figured it was yours." I explained pointing to the colors while I grabbed my suitcase. I snapped on my bracelet and waited for Steve. "Lets go already! Grab your stuff and lets go!" I ushered frantically. I wanted to get this over with. (Plus it was going to be so amusing watching him try to navigate the hover board.)

"Uh yeah, let's go." He shook his head to clear it and followed me.

Steve's POV-

It took us four hours to locate the base. Tony was starting to fidget around in his suit, and if we didn't land soon, he was going to to something stupid. "We're almost there, just be patient." I said, trying to calm him down. To my surprise, it worked, slightly. It seems talking can easily replace fidgeting when it comes to nerves.

"Do you think they'll put up much of a fight? How the hell are we going to fight them have a mind control ray thing?" He asked, lines of worry creasing his face.

"I hate it when you worry." I winced.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize, I know how you feel." I mumbled, rubbing (hopefully soothing) circles on his knee.

"You're much more affectionate when the others aren't around." He grinned.

"Yeah well-"

"I know. I know, they could never know, they wouldn't understand." He interrupted, quoting my very words from our first night the jet landed. He sighed. "Good luck kiss?"

"Why not?" I laughed.

Tony 's POV-

As soon as we stepped outside, my first thought was _Shit, it's cold. _The GPS system said we were in Antarctica, so I wasn't completely clueless, but STILL. I turned to see Steve, not even shivering. "It looks like you won't get to test out that hover board after all. Shame." I chattered. "How can you stand this?"

Then he smirked, legit smirked, I shit you not. "Do you remember who you're talking to?"

I wasn't going to dignify that with an answer, I just wasn't. Instead the cold seeped through my jacket, coaxing another series of shivers to run up and down my spine. Apparently Steve noticed this as I edged closer to him. "Sorry, we'll have to find time to cuddle some other time. Maybe it's heated in there." He pointed to a barely visible door, hidden in what seemed like a giant pile of snow. "How do we get in?"

"Uh, do you remember who YOU'RE talking to?" I quircked my brow and pushed a button on the side of my suitcase. My suit assembled around me in a matter of seconds. With a flick of my wrist, the door shattered into pieces leaving the doorway unveiled.

"Show off."

"I do what I can."

We entered hesitantly. "Looks like its all clear. Let's head in-"

I was interrupted by a group of soldiers running into the room. "That direction." I pointed and shot the whole group of their feet and unconscious.

"Great, you sounded off their alarm! So much for stealth." Steve scowled as he knocked out a few soldiers coming from the right.

"You go that way and hold off the soldiers, I'll find the device Fury was talking about and destroy it." I called, moving on throughout the underground building, switching on our communication cables.

When I finally made it to the last room, everything was quiet. In the center of the room was giant machine. "This must be it." I whispered, disassembling my suit as I moved closer. As soon as I did this, I felt a needle prick my skin. I instantly reassembled my suit and blasted whoever snuck up on me. A man lay in a heap by the door, badly burned, but not unconscious.

"What did you just prick me with?!" I yelled, cursing myself man smiled.

"The mind control chip. Once we activate that machine, you'll be under our control, and the machines blueprints will be sent to every base we own. His lips twisted into a sneer. " "You have about five minutes."

" Well then I'll just have to destroy the machine." I spat back and held out my hand to blast it. If he was telling the truth, then this was the only machine of its kind in the world. Oh this thing had to go before someone made a copy of it.

"I wouldn't do that!" He called. "If that machine gets destroyed, it's set up to self destruct, blowing up the entire base in the process. Anyone around here will undoubtedly die. I don't think you'd risk that." He laughed menacingly.

I let his words sink in for a moment. Even if I didn't blow this thing up, I'd end up killing my whole team and god knows who else thanks to these-these... suddenly my mind flashed back to the hellicarrier.

"You'd never be the one to lay down on the wire and let the other guy walk all over you."

"I think, I'd just cut the wire." I had replied.

Then I realized, it was the truth. I called Steve. "Steve, do you trust me?" I asked.

"What are you talking about Tony?" Steve called from the other end of the wire.

"Just answer me! Do you trust me?"

"Y-yes..."

" Then get out of here Steve. Get back to the jet. No matter what happens, just go!" I demanded.

"Tony, I'm not leaving you here all-"

"God DAMN IT Steve, just go!" I shouted.

Steve fell silent. "O-okay."

"Goodbye Steve." I whispered, my eyes stinging, as I cut the communication. With that taken care of, I turned back to the man. "Your plans not going to work. And do you know why that is?" I asked, lifting my faceplate.

The man muttered "Why?" As if to humor me.

"Because I'm TONY FUCKING STARK-" I paused,"- and NO one tells me what to do." I lifted my arm, and with one last satisfying breath, blew the machine to bits.

**O-O *moment of silence to let it sink in* ... $?!:#%£®%!**


End file.
